I'm not a huge George Clooney fan, but his new movie the Descendants was a fun watch. He played his usual same George Clooney character, but unlike in most of his movies, he allows himself to be a little dorky and awkward, and it's in those moments he doesn't have that cocky expression where I just want to slap him in the face. Like Sideways (also directed by Alexander Payne) the Descendants is certainly quirky and different, but at times it tries a little too hard for eccentricity. And then, the ending is really predictable... why not put some of the talent for weirdness into a creative finish? But the most important thing is that you really care about the characters, especially the daughters, and that's what holds the movie together and keeps it truthful.
On New Years' Day, the family went to see We Bought a Zoo... which was overall very cheesy as expected but was held together by some good acting. It's main redemptive factor (other then performances from Matt Damon and Elle Fanning, who are both amazing) was the soundtrack. Weirdly, when I went to look it up most of the songs I recognized from a ton of different artists like Bob Dylan and Bon Iver were not included... but this cd is still worth a listen.
I also saw The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo this weekend- I really expected to like it, but I just didn't. Mara Rooney in the title part was completely transfixing but other than her and the always-wonderful Christopher Plummer, the performances were eh. I certainly didn't anticipate all of the graphically violent scenes, thought that wasn't the part that bothered me most- the plot just sort of lost direction in the middle and petered out until a gratuitous exploding-car-chase scene towards the end.
Still, I think this reviewer has a bit of a point... ok not really, but I like how she puts it.
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